The beautiful and the damned: A-listers on their worst beauty mishaps

Even celebrities aren't immune to the odd hair or make-up disaster. Here we share their horror stories in the hope you'll learn from their mistakes.

Who: Alessandra Ambrosio

Blunder: "When I was maybe 14 I tried to dye my hair by myself," Ambrosio told British Vogue of an ill-fated experiment with pharmacy hair dye.

"It was a disaster. My hair was orange - it was so wrong for me… I started working as a model almost right after, so I had to cut it short and go to the salon to get the colour fixed."

Lesson: Your hair isn't always going to turn out the same shade as what's on the box. If you're hoping for a colour more than two shades darker or lighter than your natural hue, it's best to go to a salon. You also need to be aware of the fact that changing your hair colour can dramatically alter which make-up shades and clothing suits you, so talk to your colourist about how much of an investment you're willing to make.

Who: Diane Kruger

"I hadn't coloured my hair in six months, and I had been away working for two months," Kruger told ELLE US.

"I'm in New York, and it looked a little dull, so I just thought, I'll go to CVS [US pharmacy chain] and buy a gloss. Only it turned my hair a dark, mud brown." She immediately went to the salon, where stylists told her it would take three visits to return to her signature shade of blonde.

Lesson: Avoid desperate situations by organising regular appointments or chatting to your hairstylist about how to best maintain your colour between visits.

Who: Dree Hemingway

Blunder: The night before shooting her 2015 Chloé campaign, Hemingway found a self-tanner in the bathroom and applied it with her bare hands.

"I woke up the next morning and [my hands] were bright orange — naturally I freaked out! The make-up artists on set ended up using facial bleach to get it off my hands, and it worked."

Lesson: Don't experiment with beauty products the night before a big event.

Who: Nicole Richie

Blunder: "The second I started getting hair in the middle of my eyebrows, I decided to shave it off," Richie shares. "But by shaving it off, I actually went to the middle of my eyebrow, so I had no eyebrows. I only had the ends of my eyebrow."

She was only 13 at the time and as result, her mother refused to take any family photos until they grew back.

Lesson: Only attack your eyebrows with tweezers and wax – don’t be tempted by a quick fix.

Who: Rosie Huntington-Whiteley

Blunder: "When I was about 14 I had pestered and pestered my mum to get a box of hair dye with brush-on highlights, and I ended up with two massive peroxide streaks, like a badger," says the supermodel.

"I remember crumbling on to the bathroom floor screaming at my mother, 'You ruined my life!' and sobbing my eyes out." Rosie and her mum went through countless boxes of dye to salvage the colour and the model say the experience was extremely damaging to her hair.

Lesson: When everything goes south, call your mum.

Who: Jordan Dunn

Blunder: "The whole toothpaste on the spots thing just does not work," Dunn told US Vogue. "It’s disgusting and this one time I forgot [I had applied some] and went out of the house with it on – disastrous."

Lesson: Look in the mirror before you leave the house. Also, while toothpaste contains ingredients such as baking soda, menthol and essential oils, which can help dry out pimples, it's no more effective than conventional treatments.

Who: Gwen Stefani

Blunder: A make-up team whitened the pop star's eyebrows for a shoot and though she liked how it looked initially, they soon started to grow out and turn yellow.

"I had gone to my parents' house in Anaheim and was like, ‘I’m done, I gotta dye them back. I can't deal with this now’,” Stefani told Refinery 29. She went to a salon she’d never visited in order to remedy the situation, and things took a turn for the worse.

“A lady said she'd dye them. She didn't really speak English and she put it on and it's burning, and I'm like, 'I think it's burning!'," says Stefani. "So she gets paper towels and scrapes and it's literally stinging like a tattoo into my face." In the end, Stefani's mum took her to hospital where she was treated for chemical burns.

Lesson: It pays to do your research when you choose a salon. Clearly explain what you want to the therapist… and make sure they understand you.

Who: Lindsay Ellingson

Blunder: Even VS angels get bad fake tans. Rushing to leave a salon, Ellingson ruined her new faux glow.

"I think I put my clothes on too quickly and I had lines all over my body. I had to wash it off pretty fast."

Lesson: Always wait until your tan is touch dry before putting on clothing.